On October 3 of last year, in the rain, hundreds of people gathered at the door of the ACA headquarters on Avenida del Libertador for a 20-year-old kid. Inside, moments before going out to the balcony like a rockstar, Franco Colapinto, then a Formula 3 driver, had announced that he would compete in the last F2 test in 2023. Less than two months later, not only did he secure a seat in the MP Motorsport team for the 2024 season: Williams, in his first year as a driver from the academy, gave him the FW45 to do 65 laps on the Yas Marina circuit. Thus, the man from Buenos Aires fulfilled his dream of getting into a Formula 1 car and the British team made sure that he obtained the qualifying Super License in case one day he needed it as a driver, as happened to Ferrari with Oliver Bearman last month in Saudi Arabia.
“There are many requirements that a pilot has to have; There are drivers who cannot race in Formula 1 no matter how much the team wants. Well, I don’t know. I hope nothing happens, but obviously I’m like a posibility“, he comments from Spain, one of the places he chooses to spend some of the 54 days that will pass between the last F2 race, on March 23 in Australia, and the next one, on May 16 in Italy; It is also where from the 23rd to the 25th the official tests will be held at the Montmeló circuit.
He says that what happened with Bearman was experienced among the drivers of the F1 support category “as a very nice opportunity” and, although he did not speak with the Briton, he assumes that “he enjoyed it a lot.” “It’s a dream for anyone, I think racing with Ferrari is their dream for any driver,” she says with a wide smile. It is a unique opportunity.”
– F2 is the supporting category for F1, but is it really one step away from Formula 1?
-Yes, there is nothing else after Formula 2 so it is the previous step. It happens that Formula 1 is a car that goes very fast, that goes much faster than any car in another category. So, it’s too big a jump, capable for now, as far as speeds and all that. But it is the category before F1.
– But do you feel one step away? Many drivers race for many years in F2.
-If you are doing well, you are doing well and you have a good year, you don’t have to race for so many years in Formula 2. Those who race for many years are because they didn’t have a good previous year and there you obviously wouldn’t have a chance in Formula 1, it depends on how you do. But those who do well usually have a chance. It also happens that winning in your third year in Formula 2 is not something that Formula 1 teams look for as much. It depends on each situation but it is the previous step.
– Do you think Williams is a team where there is a better chance of reaching Formula 1?
-Williams gave me the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 last year, a chance that not many are given, and with the drivers they have on their team. In my case, obviously, having been at Williams helped me a lot to be able to race last year in F3 and this year in F2, so I am super grateful to them. For me yes It’s one of the good places to be.¿no?.
“The Formula 2 car is very complicated and the F1 car is nothing like it”
From third place in the championship, Dennis HaugerF3 champion in 2021 and member of the Red Bull Academy, shows that the MP Motorsport It is a top team even though its teammate Colapinto is 13th. He rookie Argentine rider did not have a good time in these three races held so far: he placed poorly in the box in the Sakhir GP Sprint (which forced him to serve a penalty of stop and go ten seconds); he touched the wall and broke the rear suspension in Jeddah GP qualifying, which he then abandoned due to another touch and a spin; and in Australia he was disqualified for not having correctly pressed the starting procedure buttons.
“They were not the first races we expected”, he confesses. And he differentiates the circumstances that deprived him of scoring points for driving errors from the others, which “are unfortunate things that you have to work to prevent from happening.” In the former, however, self-criticism appears: “These are complicated moments that no one wants to happen. But they are racing things and they can happen when going to the limit, like in a lap on a qualy. They shouldn’t happen and I have to improve, obviously. But moving the situation forward is what is important. The year has just started and it is very long so there is a lot to come.”
Colapinto’s enthusiasm is based on his car and, although he overlaps it, it is also based on those performances in which he showed one of his main virtues: overtaking. “I think when you rank outside of the actual position you should be ranking in, those overshoots occur.. What needs to be solved is the classification, then there will surely be fewer overtakes – he explains while laughing -. It has to do with the track situation. When you are ahead, it is more difficult to pass. But if you have a good car, generally, you go ahead.”
“Although more than anything in Jeddah things didn’t go very well, there are points that I and the team have to improve. But luckily the car is running very well, which is one of the most important things, which perhaps I lacked in other years. This year I feel like I have a car to fight for victoryat least on fast circuits,” he reinforces.
– How do you feel about having a car to fight for victory?
-On the fast circuits we are very strong. We showed in Jeddah and Melbourne, which are the two fastest circuits of the season, that we are very firm. In qualy, obviously, In Jeddah I made a mistake that hit the wall and broke the suspension on the first lap. And then in Australia when starting last in the in the pit lane I picked a bad time to go and had yellow flags, but we had good potential. And then in the races we showed that we had one of the fastest cars of all in F2. The race pace was very good and my partner had very good qualifications as well. So, the car is. We must improve aspects that did not allow us to close a good weekend for now. It’s coming. You have to work on slow corners and on the slowest circuits; In Bahrain it was quite difficult for us, I think because of the type of circuit. In other aspects we are quite strong. Something normal for a new car, I think.
– It is seen in the races that Formula 2 is a challenging category. Bearman, for example, scored points with the Ferrari in Saudi Arabia and when he returned in Australia he crashed.
–It is a complicated car and Formula 1 is nothing like it. I suppose that something with more load, something that goes slower, is always more difficult, because it means getting used to less. grip. I don’t know what it was like for him, because he had a very good weekend in Ferrari and a difficult one in F2.
– Where is this instability observed?
-It’s a complicated car, isn’t it? It has a lot of power, the rubber bands are very complicated to put in the correct working windows. The Formula 2 car is a very heavy and complicated car.. It is a set of factors that makes the car difficult to drive. And there are drivers and teams that adapted better than others but I think everything will be much more even in the next races when each team finds its way a little and understands how to maximize the car and performance. In our case, we have to continue working because there is much to improve and many things to do. I have a lot to improve. F2 is a complicated championship. We have to keep working but it is a very long year and there are many races. There will be opportunity to continue progressing.
– In that context, how special is it that the next race is in Ímola, where two years ago you won in Formula 3?
-It is a circuit that I really like; The truth is that for the driver Imola is one of the most beautiful circuits to drive. I’m looking forward to going again after not having raced in 2023 due to the floods. It’s been a long time since we’ve ridden at Imola, a very nice circuit, and it’s always good to return to those circuits where you have to go to the limit and have more challenging corners. It is always nice to go to Italy and Imola in particular is a beautiful circuit.